Being nearsighted is far more common than it once was. The case rate of myopia (近视) in Americans
Myopia results when eyeballs are
Some experts connect the myopia to the many hours young people spend in staring at
This new study shows that a lack of direct sunlight may damage vision. Strong correlations (关联) were found between current eyesight and
2 . Recently, research on how a new virtual (虚拟的) reality (VR) experience educated primary children about the fire disasters was done. It was developed by the University of South Australia, aiming to educate children to learn how to be safer in a fire.
Focusing on children aged 10-12 years old, the new VR experience presents a situation where children are tasked to look after a friend’s dog just before a fire event begins to spread. They participate in a series of problem-solving activities to help save and protect themselves and the dog.
The findings showed that more than 80 percent of children reported that they felt more confident to calmly assess the situation and make wise decisions to protect themselves from a fire. This isl especially important considering that 91 percent of participants originally lacked any knowledge of fires, and that 67 percent had said that they were too young to make safety decisions in a fire.
The researchers believed such immersive (沉浸式的) VR experiences had real potential (潜力) to attract and educate the young. “As children born in digital times, they are interested in such technology and they can experience events realistically yet within the safe environment.” said Delene Weber, one of the researchers. “Well-designed VR can provide a chance for children to apply newly-acquired knowledge, strengthen their learnt concepts, and enable immediate reaction—all incredibly valuable learning tools.”
Meanwhile, because children have fewer life experiences, aren’t as physically strong, and are less likely to have learned much about fire safety, they’re often most at risk. Yet the ability for children to contribute to fire safety at their household should not be underestimated (低估).
“Children do not need to be passively attacked by disasters and with purpose-built virtual reality experiences such as these, we can help children understand the risks and realize they can help,” said Weber.
1. How does the new VR experience try to educate children?| A．By introducing a virtual friend to them. | B．By finding the causes of a fire event. |
| C．By letting them solve virtual problems. | D．By guiding them to ask a dog for help. |
| A．Many children found it hard to adapt to them. |
| B．They helped children deal with fire postively. |
| C．They benefited children with knowledge of animals. |
| D．Most children had a misunderstanding about them. |
| A．Doubtful. | B．Indifferent. | C．Disapproving. | D．Supportive. |
| A．VR experiences educate kids to survive a fire | B．VR experiences make learning easier for kids |
| C．VR education appeals to the young generation | D．VR technology makes no sense in fighting a fire. |
3 . We see hundreds of logos on signs, vehicles, websites, and even on the clothes we are dressed in. All these logos are intended to attract our attention.
Researchers gave 85 students a simple assignment to draw the logo of a famous company from memory. Surprisingly, only one student could make it.
Logos are typically designed to be simple and easy to recognize with a quick glance. Yet the frequent exposure to these logos can actually make our brains overlook them. This process is known as attention saturation (注意力饱和)
Nowadays, logos are everywhere. A fancy design or a thoughtful (体贴的) colour combination may be a good start for a logo concept , but there are some other things to consider.
| A．When we see some logos over and over again, |
| B．People will know the product behind the logo. |
| C．This may be inspiring to logo designers. |
| D．So why is it so difficult for people to recall the details? |
| E．They also help us remember a product or service connected with them. |
| F．Our brains actually signal us to ignore information we don’t think we will need to remember. |
| G．Logo designers need to know that people will only remember what they believe is worthwhile. |
4 . According to a research, more than 130 billion pounds of uneaten food go to waste in Laura’s county each year. That is about 30% of the yearly food supply (供应). It is a sad fact, especially when you consider how many families and homeless people are in hunger.
When Laura saw her school dining hall throw away food that was not eaten at all every day, she came up with an idea. She started a project to help her school dining hall to give away uneaten food to homeless shelters (避难所) in her community. In the past three years, the same protect has spread to other schools and some fast food restaurants throughout the city. The project is called Feed & Find, which has already fed thousands of people in her city.
How does it work? Through an app, Feed & Find matches local homeless shelters with school dining halls and restaurants that have uneaten food to provide. When dining halls or restaurants have uneaten food left, they can use the app to share the information about the food. A truck driver working for the project is then sent to pick it up and take it to a shelter.
Pretty cool, right? It’s not surprising that people in other cities have got in touch with Laura, to hoping that she could help develop similar projects for their communities.
Some people, however, dread the safety of the uneaten food. They think such food may not be clean enough. Still, this project is a clever way to help solve the problem of food waste and it helps those in need.
1. The numbers in Paragraph 1 tell us ________.| A．some people are poor | B．food waste is serious |
| C．the population is large | D．the research is interesting |
| A．her school dining hall | B．her family |
| C．a fast food restaurant | D．a homeless shelter |
| A．find a truck driver | B．visit their communities |
| C．give away food to them | D．help develop projects like hers |
| A．ways | B．secrets | C．worries | D．decisions |
5 . Walking in the city is very different from walking in the park. A small psychology study suggests urban(城市的) environments can slow your step and possibly increase your mental load. A walk through nature, on the other hand, appears to ease your mind and quicken your pace. The findings show that natural settings may potentially reduce cognitive (认知的)tiredness and improve reaction times straight away. The study, which includes two experiments with two different approaches, was conducted among 65 university students in the lab.
The first of the two experiments in the new study focused on people’s way of walking and cognitive load. During this trial, participants were fitted with sensors and a dozen motion control cameras were set up to watch them repeatedly walk down a 15-metre room at their natural speed. The wall opposite them showed an image of either a nature scene or a city scene. After each walk, participants were asked to rate their feelings of discomfort in the visual environment. On the whole, when walking in city settings, people reported more discomfort and they walked at a slower pace, indicating a higher cognitive load.
The second experiment dug into some of the higher-level cognitive processes that might be at play. In the trial, participants were asked to distinguish between basic visual shapes on the computer while also in the presence of a natural or urban image(the same ones from the first experiment). Measuring reaction times in both natural and urban settings, the team found results to support their idea. In urban environments, participants were slower in distinguishing between simple shapes. The authors think this is because urban environments are more distracting(令人分心的) for our brains and take longer to process, but more research is needed to prove that idea.
1. How were the experiments conducted mainly?| A．By comparing. | B．By giving data. |
| C．By giving examples. | D．By explaining facts. |
| A．It can make us feel relaxed and react quickly. | B．It can activate our thinking and speed up our step. |
| C．It can make us less tired and improve our memory. | D．It can make us become more focused and creative. |
| A．They had a lower cognitive load. | B．They had to slow down their pace. |
| C．They couldn’t concentrate properly. | D．They felt uncomfortable after walking. |
| A．Urban environment makes us more concentrated. | B．People’s feelings are decided by their pace of walking. |
| C．The result of the experiments is widely appreciated. | D．People tend to get tired more easily walking in the city. |
In a heartwarming event that has touched the nation, a police officer in Warren, Michigan, was considered as a true hero by saving the life of an 18-month-old boy who had suddenly stopped breathing. This event happened on the evening of August 29 and has since touched the hearts of many.
Officer Brandan Fraser was on duty, focusing on speed and absent-minded driving, when he noticed a car speeding past him. What in the beginning seemed like a common traffic violation (违规) rapidly turned into a life-and-death crisis.
As Fraser came up to the car, he was met with a sad cry from a woman, who screamed, “We got a baby in here dying. Help! Help!” Both the woman and the man in the car were frightened as they handed over the baby boy, who appeared to be lifeless, not breathing and turning blue.
Rather than giving in to the pressure of the moment, Fraser immediately sprang into action. He examined the baby and doubted that he might be choking (窒息). Fraser quickly positioned the baby on his forearm and performed a series of back blows to force any obstruction (阻塞物) from the baby’s airway out.
However, the baby still showed no signs of breathing. Fraser’s heart raced, but his training kicked in here. After making sure the baby’s airway was clear, he then continued to perform CPR on the baby. His hands pressed the baby’s tiny chest and at the same time, he blew some air into the baby’s mouth to help make his heart beat again. Fraser continued these life-saving efforts tirelessly, knowing that every second counted.
Surprisingly, the baby began to breathe once more. Fraser described the moment, saying, “The baby started breathing, and you saw that color started coming back around his lips. You realized that something happened here, and we were heading in the right direction.”
注意：
1．续写词数应为150左右；
2．请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
After a while, the baby gave out a cry, a sign that life was returning.
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Then the baby was quickly transported to a nearby hospital.
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7 . We, modern humans, spend 90% of our time inside, traveling between homes and offices, schools and apartments, restaurants and gyms. I’ve been hearing this statistic so much that I started to wonder if it was an urban legend. It’s not! The best reference for the statistic appears to be The National Human Activity Pattern Survey (NHAPS).
The survey was funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). “EPA’s main purpose for collecting the NHAPS data was to provide diary records that could be used as inputs for computer-based human exposure models,” says the study. In other words, in order to understand how humans might be impacted by pollutants in our various indoor and outdoor environments, scientists needed to know how much time we spend in different locations.
The survey was conducted by the University of Maryland’s Survey Research Center. The survey used telephone interviews to collect 24-hour retrospective (回顾的) diaries from each respondent (调查对象). Between 340 and 1,713 respondents were interviewed in each of the ten EPA regions across the 48 neighboring states. Respondents were generally representative of the whole nation for gender, age, race, and educational attainment.
Americans spend 87% of their time indoors and an additional 6% in an enclosed vehicle. These proportions (比例) are also fairly constant across various regions of the United States and Canada. The finding that emerges is that we are basically an indoor species. In a modern society, total time outdoors is the most negligible part of the day, often so small that it barely shows up in the total.
Is the study accurate? Probably not. It may not take into account some populations that spend a high proportion of time outside. As the study states, “Those who were away from a home for extended periods were not included in the survey. These individuals may be more likely than those who were at home to spend large quantities of time outdoors.” Also, the survey methodology also doesn’t account well for bits of time spent taking out the trash, walking to the car, or taking a smoke break outside.
1. What can we learn about modern humans according to NHAPS?| A．They’re an indoor species. | B．They’re an urban legend. |
| C．They enjoy a leisurely life. | D．They like living in modern cities. |
| A．Humans’ different living habits. | B．Humans’ way of keeping a diary. |
| C．Humans’ time spent in various locations. | D．Humans’ attitude towards the researchers. |
| A．Fixed. | B．Noticeable. | C．Rewarding. | D．Insignificant. |
| A．A suggestion for further studies. | B．A possible reason for the finding. |
| C．An explanation of the research method. | D．A major limitation of the study. |
8 . A new study, led by the University of Massachusetts Amherst, reveals that the wealthiest Americans, those whose income places them in the top 10% of earners, are responsible for 40% of the nation’s total greenhouse gas emissions (排放).
More than that, they also discovered that the top 1% of earners alone generate 15-17% of the nation’s emissions. In general, white, non-Spanish-speaking households had the highest emission-linked income and black households the lowest. Emissions tended to increase with age, peaking with the 45-54 age group, before declining.
Scientists and environmentalists have long known that consumption—the amount and kind of food we eat, the vehicles we drive and all the stuff we buy—is closely linked to greenhouse gas emission. Traditional environmental policy has then sought to either limit consumption or guide it into more environmentally friendly approaches; replacing red meat with plant-based diets or replacing a gas-car with an electric vehicle.
“But,” says Jared Starr, a sustainability scientist at UMass Amherst and the lead author of the new study, “consumption-based approaches to limiting greenhouse gas emissions have downsides. They unfairly punish the poor while having little impact on the extremely wealthy, who tend to save and invest (投资) a large share of their income.”
“Consumption-based approaches miss something important: carbon pollution generates income, but when that income is reinvested into stocks (股票), rather than spent on necessities, it isn’t subject to a consumption-based carbon tax,” Jared continued.
The study is the first to link income, especially income from financial investments, to the emissions used in generating that income. The authors suggest that policymakers adopt taxes focused on shareholders and the carbon intensity of investment incomes in order to justly meet the goal of keeping the global temperature to 1.5℃ of warming.
1. Which of the following generates the most emissions?| A．An English-speaking black teenager. |
| B．A 48-year-old Spanish-speaking white worker. |
| C．A 49-year-old Spanish-speaking billionaire. |
| D．A 50-year-old English-speaking billionaire. |
| A．By controlling. | B．By punishing. | C．By preventing. | D．By recycling. |
| A．Unconcerned. | B．Critical. | C．Favourable. | D．Uncertain. |
| A．A book review. | B．A science fiction. | C．A science journal. | D．A travel guide. |
9 . As night falls on the streets of Shanghai, Mikiko Chen can often be found pacing up and down through the winding narrow streets of the city hunting for discarded items.
“I pick up all sorts of things, chairs, wine boxes, bowls and cups. . . it’s like treasure hunting for me, “she says. The 27-year-old digital marketer is among the first adopters of “stooping” in China, a practice that refers to picking up discarded furniture and other goods on the streets for re-use. She says the concept “stooping” was inspired by New Yorkers who often leave unwanted things on the “stoops” —or doorsteps—leading up to the entrances of buildings.
“The core concept of stooping for me is to make the best use of things,” Ms. Chen says. “It can help you to save money, but it’s not just about lowering consumption.” “It’s wasteful to throw away something that’s still usable; it’s better to share it with others who need it.”
Ms. Chen says she was among the first to use the hashtag (话题标签) #stooping on Xiaohongshu. “I initially started with posting items that people no longer used and wanted to throw away or exchange . . gradually I’m receiving hundreds of messages each day,” she says. Since then, the trend has become increasingly popular.
Ms. Chen says she is “very surprised” the concept has become a hit on social media, as older generations often stigmatize picking up things from the street or using second-hand goods. “People like my mum consider stooping as ‘rubbish picking’ and ‘scavenging’ (拾荒),” she says. “She thinks that people will look down on you for doing this.”
For Nan Zheng, an environmentalist and advocate, stooping is more than the physical act of picking up things from the streets. He created an app called “Grecycle” where people can give away or take unwanted items for free. “I think we can let more people know about the concept of stooping as an interesting and fun thing to do,” Mr. Nan says. “But then, gradually we can let people know this can also be about charity and helping others.”
1. What can we learn about Mikiko Chen from paragraph 2 and 3?| A．She is hunting for costly treasures. |
| B．She just wants to reduce consumption. |
| C．She got inspiration from New Yorkers. |
| D．She intends to make the most of throwaway items. |
| A．To collect varieties of messages. |
| B．To go viral on social media. |
| C．To share something still usable with others. |
| D．To throw away unwanted things on the “stoops”. |
| A．The older are ashamed of stooping. | B．The older are skilled at stooping. |
| C．The older are exposed to stooping. | D．The older are addicted to stooping |
| A．Recycling discarded things from the streets. |
| B．Getting unwanted items for free on “Grecycle”. |
| C．Exchanging items through “Grecycle”. |
| D．Enhancing people’s awareness of charity. |
10 . A third of Britons are overweight, states a report published in January by the Royal College of Physicians, the result of an 18-month study. About five percent of children weigh too much, and are likely to stay that way for life; in the mid-twenties-age-long group the proportion (比例) of the middle-aged population half are overweight.
Fat people risk severe health problems, says the report, including high blood pressure, breathlessness and various forms of heart disease. Smoking is particularly risky for overweight people.
The safest way to lose weight is to eat cereals, bread, fruit and vegetables, and cut down on fatty meals, butter and sweet foods. Fad (目前流行的) diets so far more than good; slimming machines that vibrate muscles have not been proved useful; saunas merely remove a little body water, and health farms, says the report ,serve as expensive holidays.
Exercise is most important to health, the report emphasizes; though it doesn’t necessarily reduce weight; it keeps the correct proportion of body muscle. And it isn’t only for the young ; from middle age a minimum of 20 minutes of gentle physical jerks should be practiced three times a week.
The report advocates several public health measures to fight the common existence of overweight in this country. They include an increase of tax on alcohol to reduce its increasing, and dangerously fattening, consumption; and the provision of more sports facilities by local authorities. Britain’s doctors, the report concludes, must learn to be more sympathetic and specific in their advice to the overweight, encouraging a change in eating habits on a long-term basis and taking into account the many-often-complex-reasons why fat people are fat.
1. The passage mainly talks about _____.| A．the cause of Britons’ overweight. |
| B．how to avoid getting overweight |
| C．Britons’ overweight problem. |
| D．the relations between overweight and health problems. |
| A．gets fat in the twenties | B．gets fat in his middle age |
| C．is born fat | D．gets fat when he is a child. |
| A．is a way to reduce weight. | B．sometimes increases weight |
| C．is a sure way to keep one healthy | D．can convert (转化) fat to muscle |
| A．will also cause one to get fat | B．will cause one to do less sports |
| C．will make one forget the fact that he is fat. | D．will lead one to bad eating habits |
